“Pay attention,” Cassidy admonished.
“Bite me, Princess,” I said, patting my butt.
Wow, that got a reaction. I grinned while fending off her furious attack. The only facet of my training I was better at than Cassidy was the Bo staff. I was able to keep up with Cassidy’s quickness because I worked out with a heavier one. My hand, wrist, and forearm strength had improved since I’d begun using it. Those exercises also contributed to my improvement at hitting a baseball.
Shiggy shook his head and slowly walked toward us. I expect he assumed one of us would be whacked soon, but I wasn’t on the offensive; I wanted to see what Cassidy had. Cassidy always had one goal in mind, which was to take down her opponent. It frustrated her that I played defense.
“Get aggressive,” Shiggy barked.
Instantly, I attacked. Cassidy had no choice but to give ground. When she stepped out of the ring, Shiggy called it. We positioned ourselves in the center again, and Shiggy started us. This time I let Cassidy attack. When my little ninja saw me begin to give ground, she gave me a look that said she knew she had me. Cassidy’s dad barked out a laugh when she got too close and I leg-swept her. Shiggy called it.
“I think that’s enough for today. Much improved, David. Would you assist me?” Shiggy asked.
“Sure, just give me a minute, and I’ll be over,” I said.
I stepped over to Fritz.
“Could I talk to you for a second?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said, and we walked away from everyone.
“I need some advice. Could we maybe meet tomorrow night?” I asked.
“No problem. Why don’t you come to Rita’s for dinner and we can talk afterward?”
I let Shiggy use me as a crash test dummy for his beginners class. They were getting better. For some reason, they enjoyed tossing me. I admit I had fun.
◊◊◊
After my shower, I walked into the kitchen and found Little David being cranky. Peggy looked worn out.
“Here,” she said and handed him to me.
“Hey, little man. What ya fussing about?” I asked in a soothing voice.
Our eyes locked, and he seemed to relax as I gently bounced him up and down. He was soon sound asleep.
Pam and Lacy looked at me in awe. They’d just discovered my superpower: I was the baby whisperer.
“We don’t understand why it works, but if you have a fussy baby, hand them to David,” Mom said.
“We tried everything,” Peggy complained.
“It’s like everything else: it works better if a man’s involved,” I explained.
I shushed them so they wouldn’t wake Little David with any rude remarks. We had a crib on the first floor, so I took him and Duke to where it was to lay Little David down.
“Tell us if he wakes up,” I told Duke, and he seemed to understand as he lay down next to the crib.
I wondered what he would do when my baby arrived. Duke would be busy keeping track of everything.
I came back into the kitchen, and Peggy needed a hug.
“Rough day?” I asked.
“He just wouldn’t stop fussing. I felt bad when I had to go to class and left him with your mom. I hope he does better tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you eat something and go take a nap? I’ll watch him for you.”
I started working on dinner and made a salad to go with the meal. Mom had made a tomato-based stew in the slow cooker. Dad was in charge of making drop biscuits while everyone talked. It felt good to be home and have a house full of friends and family. It reminded me of when Greg, Dad, and I would cook together and discuss our day.
◊◊◊
After dinner, Pam, Peggy, and I climbed the stairs up to my apartment. I put Little David in his crib, and Peggy went to my bedroom to take her nap. The little guy must have been exhausted because he didn’t even stir when I carried him upstairs.
While I did that, Pam turned my coffee table into a dining table so we could do our homework. I needed to catch up; it wasn’t often that I would be behind in my reading. I had KIIS-FM streaming as background noise. That was something I’d brought back with me from LA.
After almost two hours, Duke came to me and nudged me.
“You need to go out?” I asked.
He trotted over to the crib.
“Looks like Little David’s up,” Pam said. “I’ll check him.”
Her nose wrinkled when she got close.
“You might as well get in some practice,” I suggested.
“I’ve never done this.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” I said, and we put him on a blanket on the kitchen counter.
I’d learned the hard way with Kyle that taking a diaper off didn’t mean they were done. You only have to get pee in your face once to figure out it’s good to have something handy to block it if needed. I’d perfected the blanket flip. Pam handled it better than I did my first time. I felt like I might throw up on Kyle when I changed my first poopy diaper.
I heated some formula and let Pam feed him. She was a natural and even figured out how to burp him. He was content on her lap, so she held him.
“What’s going on with you? I could tell you didn’t want to talk in front of Tracy,” Pam said.
I thought for a moment. In the end, if Pam and I were to be connected for the rest of our lives, I would have to accept her as family and everything that entailed. And she’d been there when Mike sexually assaulted Mona.
“On one of my recruiting trips, someone used a date-rape drug on Tami and took advantage of her.”
“That’s awful. I hope you plan to track him down.”
“That may be the easy part. I accused Tami of some things that obviously weren’t true, and I don’t know how to tell her.”
“Be prepared for her to be mad at you, but the two of you have been friends for a long time. She’ll eventually come around,” Pam advised.
“I’ve been sick about it since I found out Sunday. I keep playing the ‘what if?’ game.”
“Something Dr. Hebert told me might help. Bad things happen. You might even be totally responsible for what happened. The key is to figure out what you’re going to do about it. I believe her direct quote was, ‘Shit happens. Are you going to let that control your life, or are you going to move on?’”
“So, I need to stop beating myself up and take control of the situation,” I said, and then smiled. “Tami once told me about the difference between ‘doers’ and ‘wanters.’ I think Dr. Hebert was saying the same thing, but in a different way.”
“She told me it’s natural for your mind to need to go through the process of understanding what caused it. But at some point, you have to switch to become proactive in your future,” Pam said. “You can’t stay in grief mode forever. It’s like what my dad did to us. We were both angry and had to deal with all the feelings that accompany that. But at some point, we had to move on. I mean, it’s okay for me to still miss my dad, but I can’t let all the emotions surrounding that control my day-to-day life.”
“That must mean I’m mentally healthy because I still get mad when I think of him hitting you and using our baby as a tool for his vengeance. I’m glad you and I moved on.”
“That’s what you have to remember with Tami. I’ve talked to Tracy about her past and some of the horrible stuff that happened to her. She told me you were one of the keys to her recovery. She did some very hurtful things to you. My guess is Tami might react badly. You just need to remember how far you and Tracy have come as friends,” Pam said.
“Thanks for the advice. I’m glad you’re there for me,” I said.
“We’re here for each other. I don’t think I ever said it, but when you said you wanted custody of our baby, I was relieved. Your parents stepping up like they did was a huge relief. When my dad found out I was pregnant, I could only imagine two possible outcomes: he would either make me raise our baby all by myself, or it would be taken away from me.